Apple TV app now available for Amazon Fire TV users

The Apple TV+ service is priced at Rs 99 per month, but you get one year free subscription with a new Apple device.

Just ahead of next week’s release of the Apple TV+ subscription service, Apple today released the Apple TV app for certain Amazon Fire TV devices, dramatically widening the number of potential viewers for its original and iTunes Store-based content. The app mimics the functionality of the Apple TV app on the same-named streaming device, as well as the TV apps on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS platforms.

As of today, the app is available for the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and HD — two of the company’s most affordable media players. Support will be widened to the Fire TV Cube, third-generation Fire TV, and additional models in the near future. Users interested in the app can search for Apple TV in Amazon’s app store or ask Alexa to “find the Apple TV app.”

Apple previously released Apple TV apps for recent model Samsung Smart TVs and Roku streaming media players, including Roku TVs built by third parties. With the addition of Amazon, the company is now offering Apple TV apps for the most popular streaming platforms in the U.S. and international markets, as well as some of the most popular smart TVs, though the apps tend to be available for users in select countries. For now, the Apple TV app is available to Amazon customers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., India, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

Apple’s own Apple TV hardware includes video streaming functionality across a wider number of regions but costs $149 to $199, depending on HD or 4K support and storage capacity. Unlike the Amazon Fire TV app, which is limited to streaming content purchased through Apple’s devices, users can purchase iTunes Store content directly from the Apple TV.

Apple previously released an Apple Music app for the Fire TV and permitted streaming to Echo devices, so this isn’t its first streaming app deal with Amazon, but it’s an interesting expansion of its subscription initiatives. Reciprocally, Amazon Music recently launched an app for the Apple TV, and Amazon Prime Video is similarly available across the Apple TV and other Apple devices.

As with Roku, the addition of the Fire TV version of the app does not yet include support for AirPlay 2 streaming to Amazon devices — the only third-party vendor thus far with both an Apple TV app and AirPlay 2 support is Samsung. Having both features enables streaming of Apple content directly from the iTunes Store and various Apple devices, including iPads, iPhones, and Macs.